A/N: I still own none of this. Obviously, the movie would have ended differently if I did own it.

Again, I thank all of you who are reading this story. You warm my little author heart with your kind words and putting it on your favorite lists. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Another non-story time chapter here.

***

Hatter had been very quiet all day, and this was terribly unlike him. I closed my book and stared at him. He had probably moved the flower on the hat he was working on at least a dozen times. I knew he was looking for perfection – the hat was for the Queen after all – but I had never seen him work like this.

"Tarrant," I finally asked. "Is something on your mind?"

"Hmmm?" he mumbled.

"I asked if there is something on your mind."

"Oh, no, my mind is empty. You know that."

"I don't think that's the truth. What are you thinking about?"

"Well … I suppose it comes to this. I have been wondering something and was hoping you could answer it. Well, of course you could answer it, I mean, I am asking you afterall. Who better to ask than the person you have the question for? And –"

"Hatter!"

"Thank you. What I mean to say is …Do you regret my proposal?"

"I think it's a bit late for that, Tarrant. We've been married for over three years now."

"No, no. I certainly don't mean to change anything!"

"What do you mean? That we should have lived in sin?" I waggled my eyebrows at him and he gave a little chuckle.

"No, of course not. I might be bonkers, but I am still a proper gentleman and would never ask you that. And I can't imagine you saying yes, being as how you are a proper lady as well. Yet you are one to go against the standards, but at the same time, you do have your morals and –"

"Hatter!"

"Thank you. But what I suppose I mean is, do you wish I wouldn't have done it so soon? So quickly?"

I gave him a questioning glance. This must be weighing heavily on his mind if he was rambling this much.

"Well, what I think I'm trying to say is that you had just slayed the jabberwocky, and you had just made the somewhat unconscious decision to stay in Underland and here I come, proposing marriage that same day."

"I could have said no, you understand."

"Yes, you could have, but—"

"But nothing. Hatter, I had just turned down a marriage proposal just a few days prior!"

"Yes, don't remind me."

"Which reminds me. I never did technically tell Hamish no. I just never returned to the party. Hmmm. Well, surely by now he must know I was rejecting his proposal. Regardless, my point is that I would have said no if I didn't want to become your wife. I've never been the type to do things because they are expected of me or assumed of me. Tarrant, I think I probably wanted to marry you even before you asked. Perhaps as early as in that dreadful workshop in the Red Queen's castle." Then I saw it. "Breathe!" I instructed as I saw his eyes begin to change just the slightest. Even now, the mention of the Red Queen would set him off.

"I'm fine. But why then, dearheart? That's a dreadful place to begin falling in love. Especially with a madman."

"Or perhaps the perfect place and the perfect madman. It was one moment in particular. When I was standing there, a few feet taller and you asked me, 'Why is it you're either too small or too tall?' The look in your eyes and just the way you asked. Why, I didn't know it then, but I know now how that made me feel."

He smiled. I knew he remembered that moment too. "So, I didn't make a mistake that day?"

"You tell me. Do you regret asking me to marry you?"

"Goodness no! Best decision I ever made! Not that I've made a lot of great ones in my day. But that's not to diminish the importance of asking for your hand. It's just that—"

I rolled my eyes. "Hatter!"

"Thank you. My point is just to make sure you were happy with how things turned out."

"Of course I'm happy. Why do you ask now, after all these years?"

"It had occurred to me that I barely put an ounce of thought into it. I just saw that you were staying and I rushed off to get a ring. I didn't bother to see what customs may have come from your world. I didn't bother to think that you might say no. I didn't bother to think of much of anything."

"Maybe that's a good thing."

"Eh?"

"Hatter, I love you, but you tend to act on impulse. If you had gone to great lengths to think about what I would say, or what the proper proposal style was (I liked it, by the way), then you may have never gotten around to doing it. Over-thinking the situation could have made a mess of things. We might not even be together now. We might still be dancing around our feelings like we did for the whole adventure. I might have gone back to the Otherland by now. Do you see my point?"

"Yes, kitten. I do. How is it that you always know how to set me right?"

"Because we were made for each other. You are mad enough for my taste of insanity, and I am sound enough to keep you grounded."

"My sweet Alice. No matter what you say, I still insist I don't deserve you."

"Tarrant, I've asked you to stop saying that. It's certainly never been a matter of deserving. I've never liked that terminology. Neither one of us is a prize to be won. Just a person to be loved. And as long as we love each other, then that is certainly all that matters. Agreed?"

He smiled. "Agreed." He started to return to the hat, but then turned back to me. "Alice, someday, would you like to go back to the Otherworld?"

"Go back? Is that even possible?"

"Sweetness, this is Underland. A myriad of things could be, would be and should be possible here. Not to mention, I might have gotten more jabberwocky blood before the horrid creature was destroyed."

"Might have?"

"All right, I snuck back late in the night and got all I could get. I thought it might be a good addition to Mirana's potion stocks. Not to mention, I wanted to keep an option for you to see your family again."

"Hatter, you are a wonder."

"Not the first time I've been told that, but I think you mean it in a much nicer way. But to the point, someday, I thought perhaps you would like to go back."

"Not permanently, right?" I asked.

"Dear me, no! I mean, if you wanted to stay, then I certainly couldn't stop you. I really don't imagine that staying there is something you would enjoy, at least considering all you've told me, what with the dreadful rules and those clothes that sound so uncomfortable and the –"

"Hatter…"

He paused. "I'm fine. You wouldn't want to stay there, would you?"

"Tarrant, never in a million years would I want to leave your side. You would be coming with me for this visit, wouldn't you? I would adore showing you off to my mother."

"She doesn't strike me as the type to approve of me, cricket."

"And your point?"

Hatter smiled. "I like the way you think, love. Almost always have."

"Almost?"

"Well, you did consider leaving at one point. I did disagree with you there."

"Point taken. You know, Hatter. You really are the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Even though I shrunk you, tossed you on a hat and talked you into fighting a jabberwocky?"

"Because of those things and more."

His eyes sparkled. I cherished the fact that he no longer felt like such an outsider. He finally had love in his life.

"I won't even get into the list of how you are the best thing in my life," he said, kissing my forehead.

"Well, good. Because it's almost tea time and you have nothing prepared."

He glanced at the clock behind me.

"Dear me! If the guests arrive before I'm ready, would you please entertain them for me?"

"Of course, darling," I replied, giggling. I knew if tea wasn't ready, then Charlotte would entertain our visitors. Our two month old daughter was always the life of the party these days. In fact, Thackery and Mallymkun really preferred to see her. For years, Tarrant and I were famous through Underland, but now? Miss Lottie was the only Hightopp anyone wanted to see.

So, someday we would take a trip to meet my family. I would finally get to prove to everyone that someone was mad enough to marry me. And oh, when they see who I married! Maybe we'll even take Charlotte with us. I'm sure they'll love to see my daughter, with her bright orange hair and already lively personality. My mother will probably faint!